A disappointing budget from a petty mayor

The first budget prepared by Mayor Bob Filner is a major disappointment in its reliance on one-time revenues for ongoing expenses – the kind of irresponsible budgeting that put state finances into a bleak morass. It also offered a sad new example of the mayor’s seemingly compulsive petty streak.

The $1.2 billion budget includes a spending increase of about $36.4 million. The 3 percent increase will cover the cost of adding 60 full-time positions to the city payroll, having the city’s emergency homeless shelter operate on a year-round basis, beefing up some public-safety services, upgrading computers at city branch libraries and providing discount bus passes for schoolchildren.

A case can be made for each of these proposals, and the argument that Filner is following through on the agenda that got him elected is also valid. But we doubt voters wanted Sacramento-style budget gimmicks, such as using one-time funds to pay for ongoing programs and accounting maneuvers involving deferred borrowing. Instead of using nearly $22 million from a settlement with San Diego Gas & Electric related to past wildfires, a much better approach would have been for the mayor to continue with the “managed competition” process endorsed by voters to increase efficiency in city departments by having groups of workers bid against private companies for the provision of certain city services. Managed comp already saves City Hall millions of dollars a year, and it has the promise to save many millions more.

We also doubt the city’s besieged motorists wanted Filner to delay a pothole-repair project touted by his predecessor, Jerry Sanders.

And we are confident that voters would not have wanted the mayor to indulge his bilious side by singling out the office of City Attorney Jan Goldsmith for a cut of $1.4 million, or about 13 positions -- including, incredibly enough, the specific names of people he wants laid off. Filner started a feud with Goldsmith months ago with no known provocation and keeps trying to escalate it.

The city attorney was re-elected last year without opposition after bipartisan acclaim for his first four years on the job. We hope the City Council appreciates this fact when it considers and – we hope – improves upon the mayor’s budget.